Studios urge contract negotiations

SAG, AFTRA to develop proposals together

By DAVE MCNARY

The majors have asked SAG and AFTRA to start negotiations on a new feature-primetime contract on March 31 -- three months before expiration of the current pact.

Nick Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, made the request of SAG national exec director Doug Allen and AFTRA topper Kim Roberts Hedgpeth in a long-scheduled meeting Wednesday at SAG headquarters in Hollywood.

Allen, who's also serving as SAG's lead negotiator, took Counter's request under advisement and said in statement issued Wednesday evening, "We need to consult our board, AFTRA and the joint SAG/AFTRA board before we can respond to the AMPTP."

Reps for the AMPTP and AFTRA confirmed that the meeting took place but had no further comment.

The move by Counter came a day after SAG took a major step toward jointly negotiating the contract with AFTRA by setting March 25 and 26 as dates for joint meetings of the wages and working conditions panels and March 29 as the date for a joint national board meeting to develop the proposal package for negotiations with the AMPTP.

News Corp. topper Peter Chernin and Disney CEO Robert Iger -- who teamed in hammering out the outlines of recent deals with the Directors Guild of America and Writers Guild of America -- are expected to remain involved in the negotiations with thesps. Chernin met Tuesday with Hedgpeth to lay the groundwork for talks; the moguls have already met informally on two occasions with Allen and SAG president Alan Rosenberg.

AFTRA's been threatening for more than a month to negotiate a separate deal early with the AMPTP. AFTRA leaders have been irked that SAG was insisting that AFTRA promise to stop offering lower initial rates on basic cable shows -- an area of shared jurisdiction -- as a condition of joint bargaining.

A separate negotiation by AFTRA carried the potential of de-leveraging SAG, which has indicated recently that it's backed off from that position in the interests of negotiating jointly. The arrangements for joint bargaining are expected to be finalized in the next few days.

SAG's been under pressure from high-profile members such as George Clooney to start negotiations as soon as possible. The AMPTP announced Feb. 14 that it is ready to start bargaining with the actors.